


Girls' Night Out

by ChillyHollow



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: Birthday, F/M, Girls' Night Out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-08
Updated: 2020-02-11
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:07:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22620745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChillyHollow/pseuds/ChillyHollow
Summary: It's Robin's birthday!  The plot involves mature themes, James Bond, beards and leather pants. (Don't ask.)
Relationships: Robin Ellacott/Cormoran Strike
Comments: 18
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

Robin’s birthday celebration with Ilsa and Vanessa was going to start at the Hot Nails Salon for a mani/pedi so she tossed on a pretty dress with her new heels and headed out for celebration with her friends.Technically her birthday wasn’t until tomorrow, but Saturdays are the best days to go out on the town, so Ilsa had declared Saturday was Robin’s birthday and to heck with the calendar. 

The salon offered them glasses of wine, which is what Robin blamed for her friends’ being able to talk her into a bikini wax, which she’d never done.It wasn’t the right time of year to wear a bathing suit, but Van insisted men love women who wax in fancy underwear, so all three had a bikini wax.When it was time to have their nails varnished.Vanessa went for dark purple polish on her fingers and toes, and Ilsa wanted Chinese red.Robin decided that a French manicure in pale pink was the best option for her since she had surveillance next week.She had to stay low key.

Their next stop was at an expensive lingerie shop.Vanessa swore by Rigby and Peller, so that’s where they went.Robin indulged in a deep plunge bra in coral with matching tap pants while Vanessa and Ilsa picked up new bikini briefs.Then they stopped at Smith’s for cocktails where they used the ladies room to change into their new underthings.Robin was a little hesitant to add a dry martini to her glass of white wine but the other two urged her to indulge, so she did.The martini was delicious, the best she’d ever had, so she had two. 

Then it was time for dinner.They went to Sway and had tiny pizzas with white wine and more martinis.They started debating which James Bond actor was the best (Robin said Sean Connery, Vanessa voted for Daniel Craig, and Ilsa was a Pierce Brosnan devotee) which segued into a discussion of the perfect man.Ilsa voted for great buns, which Robin and Vanessa toasted.“Looks are good,” stated Van, “but not everything.NO CHEATERS!” 

“No cheating,” echoed Robin who had been burned by her handsome ex-husband. 

“Must have sex appeal,” added Vanessa.“Like that guy in the Three Musketeers, the one with the leather jacket and pants who drinks too much.” 

“Leather pants,” cheered Ilsa, who was toasted by her friends. 

“Must be a great kisser,” Robin insisted.They all drank to that.“I like beards, too,” she muttered, too low for the others to hear in all the racket from the dance floor. 

“And a stupendous lay,” added Vanessa.They absolutely agreed that prowess in bed was mandatory and called for another round of drinks. 

Later she blamed all that alcohol for their stop at Forbidden Nights at Inferno, a strip show featuring exotic male dancers, and what followed.The crowd was quite rowdy, full of women (and a few gay men) hooping and hollering at the male dancers, encouraging them in all sorts of wild antics. Vanessa and Ilsa were cheering the guys on, while Robin smiled, a bit shocked but enjoying the show nevertheless.Those boys had moves!

By now it was nearly midnight, which meant calling for a taxi to get them all home.The driver dropped off Vanessa first as her flat was the closest.Then Ilsa was let out to wobble her way to her front door.The driver asked for Robin’s address and in her muddled state, she gave him the office address, a mistake she didn’t realize until she was half way up the stairs to the office.By now it was past midnight, too late to make her way home.She decided she would just crash on the office couch.She hung up her coat on the hook by the door, dropped her purse on her desk, stripped off her dress, kicked off her shoes and laid down on the couch with the old office blanket over her for warmth.She was asleep almost as soon as she shut her eyes.

Cormoran woke up suddenly.He thought he’d heard a sound coming from the office downstairs.He had fallen asleep reading in his chair after four beers so he still was dressed.He got up quietly, grabbed a flashlight for both illumination and to use as a weapon, and made his way down the stairs silently.He found the office door unlocked.His flashlight revealed a dress puddled on the floor next to a high heeled shoe.He spotted a purse on Robin’s desk.He frowned, remembering that Robin had told him she was going out to celebrate her birthday with Ilsa and Vanessa.How had one of them ended up here?

He turned his flashlight toward the couch and spotted Robin’s glorious hair spilling out over creamy shoulders.She was wearing only a coral colored bra and matching tap pants, her long long legs dangling off the sofa with the old blanket laying on the floor.He froze, taking in the sight, memorizing each inch of her to bring out again and again in his day dreams.His shock meant the flashlight rested too long on Robin’s face and it woke her.She sat up, blinking.“Cormoran?”

“Robin, what are you doing here?” he asked. 

“Gave the taxi the wrong address.Sorry.”

“No, it’s fine. But you can’t sleep here.Come upstairs.You can have my bed to sleep it off.”

“Not drunk!Well, not much.We had a good time.Wish you’d been there.”Robin stood, swaying.Cormoran moved quickly to catch her.She leaned into him, muttering “No cheating, great kisser, a beard.And leather pants.” Then she kissed him. 

He really couldn’t stop himself from kissing her back.His hands roamed across her soft curves, holding her steady, stroking her, kissing her.He wasn’t sure how long he stood there, stroking her beautiful hair, exploring her mouth, and looking down at her face.She had her arms around his neck and every inch of a body he’d never seen this well before pressed against him.He groaned and gently tried to disengage.Robin whimpered, “Don’t go.Need sex for my birthday.”

“Robin, we are both drunk,” he protested.

“Best time,” she pointed out with impeccable logic.“We won’t remember much tomorrow.Plausible, plausible….”she groped for the word.“Plausible deniability!”She attempted to kiss him again while fumbling with his belt. 

Strike decided that distraction was his best option.“All right, but not here.That couch will destroy us.Let’s go upstairs to my bedroom.”

“Ok,” Robin turned and headed out the door.He had a great view of her ass in those skimpy tap pants as she went.Sighing, he picked up her dress, shoes and purse, then locked up the office and followed her.

Robin was in the bathroom by the time he got upstairs to his flat.He knew his sheets were clean, so he draped her dress over a chair in the bedroom, put her purse and shoes there as well, then dug out an old baggy sweatshirt for her to sleep in.He knocked on the bathroom door and told Robin there were new toothbrushes under the sink.Then he fetched a bottle of water and the paracetamol which he put on the nightstand.He was turning down the covers when Robin emerged from the bathroom.She saw her purse and grabbed it, pulling out her comb and also what he saw to his horror were condoms.She tossed the condoms on the nightstand within easy reach of the bed and started to get the tangles out of her hair.He got her to drink the water by promising to kiss her afterwards.But she flat refused to put on his sweatshirt to sleep in.“Don’t need it.Sleeping in the nude.”She proved this by putting her hair in a pony tail, taking off her bra and tap pants, dropping them on the chair with her dress, and grabbing at him.“You promised to kiss me if I drank the water.I drank it.Pay up.” 

He was no longer the responsible adult in the room as soon as a naked Robin began kissing him.She looked about twelve years old with that pony tail but her body was that of a grown and aroused woman and her kisses sent molten fire across his skin.She pushed him back on the bed and undressed him, kissing each revealed area as she pulled off his shirt, his belt, his pants, unbuckled his prothesis, and finally slid down his underwear.He was fully erect by this time, so she found it easy to dress him in one of her condoms before she carefully lowered herself on top of him, rode him to orgasm, her head thrown back, and then let him flip her over so he could come himself by driving deep into her.With the condom discarded, they lay tangled together, Robin muttering about leather pants again, and Strike wondering whether he had just ruined the best partnership in his life and deciding right now he didn’t care. He kissed Robin as she fell asleep in his arms, whispered “Happy Birthday,” to her, and followed her into dreamland.


	2. Girls Night Out: The Next Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't planning to add more to this but since folks asked nicely, here is what I think happened when Robin woke up in Strike's bed.

Robin woke the next morning with a headache and a sick feeling in her stomach that had nothing to do with all the alcohol she’d consumed.She remembered quite well that she’d basically raped Strike last night.Or had she?Maybe it was all a dream?She sat up in bed and looked around.She definitely was in his bed.There was a glass of water and a note on the night table—next to a pile of condoms!

She groaned.She recognized them as the brand Vanessa had talked her into buying.There was a used one in the trash, too.She had not dreamed that they’d slept together.Oh, Lord!She managed to grab the note off the table without falling off the bed and saw it was from Strike.He told her he was out getting food to make them brunch and picking up clothes from her flat and that he’d left out water and paracetamol for her.She looked around and discovered her dress, shoes, purse and her brand new (but somewhat crumpled) bra and tap pants on a chair next to the bed.She vaguely remembered Strike trying to get her to wear one of his old sweatshirts to bed.Yes, there it was on the floor where she had tossed it before she had attacked him, demanding sex.Robin groaned again.How on earth was she going to face Cormoran?Work with him?She was going to kill Ilsa and Vanessa for letting her drink so much! 

She drank the water and took the paracetamol, hoping it would help settle her head and ease her stomach.Nothing she could do about her conscience, though.She was going to have to face Strike, talk to him, apologize for the way she’d acted. She did remember him telling her they were both drunk before she jumped on him and taken advantage of him not currently having a girlfriend.She had brothers, she knew that they were susceptible to temptation if they didn’t have a sexual outlet.He might never forgive her for taking advantage of his momentary drunken weakness.She would never forgive herself.

The room stopped spinning after a while and Robin decided she might as well get cleaned up and dressed.She remembered Strike had given her a clean toothbrush and towels last night.She managed to brush her teeth and wash her face, then put on her underthings and his big sweatshirt.It was very baggy on her.She looked like a waif in the bathroom mirror as she combed the knots out of her hair.Maybe if she looked like she was ten he wouldn’t be so mad at her.She was trying to braid her hair without much success when she heard the door to the flat open and Strike calling her.Time to face the music.

Strike felt his heart turn over as he spotted Robin in the doorway to his bathroom.Her eyes were huge and she looked unhappy.She was wearing his old sweatshirt which hung off her shoulders and attempting to braid her hair.He smiled at her and held up his sports bag.“Clothes for you.I picked up what I thought went together but I’m no fashion expert.Why don’t you get dressed while I fix us something to eat?”

“Cormoran, I am so sorry about last night,” Robin started to say. 

Strike interrupted her.“Time enough to talk after you get dressed and we eat.Then we’ll talk, ok?Robin nodded, which was enough to start the room spinning.She sat down abruptly on the bed and Strike was at her side instantly. 

“Are you ok?”

“Fine,” she managed to smile. “Just hung over.” 

“Food will help,” he promised.And he left her to head to the kitchen.Robin felt worse than ever.He wasn’t yelling at her but she would feel better if he was.She deserved a good chewing out.She opened the sports bag which he had put on the end of the bed to find jeans, a slouchy sweater, a long sleeved t-shirt, her blue jeans jacket, several changes of underwear, sox and her trainers.He’d also grabbed her travel kit which had a toothbrush and toothpaste, shampoo, emergency makeup, a brush, everything she had to make herself presentable before he fired her.Robin sighed, grabbed what she needed, and headed to the bathroom. Might as well look presentable for the firing squad.

When she finally emerged from the bathroom, armed with mascara and her warm t-shirt, Strike was dishing up plates of bacon butties made with thick buttered toast and seasoned with HP sauce.Suddenly things looked a little better.Robin sat down opposite him at his little table and dug in.She snuck looks at him while he was eating, and thought he looked pale, but composed.Maybe he wasn’t really mad at her?Maybe they could just pretend this had never happened?

As she finished her last bite of toast she realized Strike was watching her over his cup of coffee.She straightened her spin and said, “About last night, I’m sorry. I was drunk.”

“You were very drunk,” as I recall, Strike said.“Of course I wasn’t exactly sober myself.But don’t be sorry.Sex with you is fabulous.The question is where do we go from here?”

Robin looked at him over her own cup of coffee.“What do you mean?”

“Is this a one time fling where we both had an itch that we scratched and we move on, or is it something more, something serious?”

“Can we have an affair and work together, you mean?” Robin asked.

“Well, no, I wasn’t thinking about an affair. I was asking if you want a serious relationship, one that might impact our working together.Not a one night stand or a couple of sleep over dates when there isn’t anything better on television, but something serious that has the potential of taking us places we might not want to go, like marriage or children or both.”Strike put down his coffee cup and took her hand.

“I’m asking you if you want to try and build something together with me beyond our business.Something that has the potential of wrecking the business if it goes bad?”

Robin thought about this.“If there’s one thing I am certain of, nothing can wreck the business.Whether we are together or not, we are partners.” 

“But what if you want more than that and I don’t?What if you want marriage and kids and I don’t?How do we balance that?And don’t tell me that falling into bed fixes everything because it doesn’t!”

“No, it makes things more complicated in one way and easier in another.”Robin said.

“How’s that?”

“Sex with someone you fancy is lovely, but sex with someone you like and respect and who likes and respects you back is a lot better.That gives you incentive to actually talk about problems and make compromises with the other person. I think that’s what went wrong between Matthew and me.If we’d actually talked about what we wanted from life before we got married, we might have come to some agreement instead of him always telling me what I wanted.” 

“I can’t see myself married with kids, Robin, and I can’t see you without that,” Strike said.Robin considered this. 

“Right now I don’t want kids.Maybe in the future. but the job takes precedence in my life now.That means that if we are interested in repeating last night, we will need boundaries at work.No christening the desks, for example, at least not during working hours.” 

“Agreed,” said Strike.“And for the record, if you got pregnant by me, I would be secretly thrilled.And terrified.” 

“Me, too,” said Robin.“I’m not ready to be a parent so I’ll look into getting on the pill but I guess no one is really.For now, I would like to kiss you.And after that, I’d like to sleep with you again, this time stone cold sober.”

Strike smiled at her.“I’d like to take a walk in the park with you, have a nice dinner out, then come back here and watch tv with you, then curl up in bed, make love for hours, and find you here in the morning.You will have noticed I brought enough clothes for you to show up at work tomorrow morning without going back to your flat….”

“I hadn’t noticed, but I’m still hung over a little,” Robin confessed. 

“Are we agreed that we are going to take our partnership into another aspect of our lives?” Strike asked.

“Yes, Cormoran, I want to do that.”

“Then I want to ask, what was the thing you kept saying about leather pants?I’m just asking because I have an old pair of motorcycle leathers and if that’s a requirement, I’ll see if they still fit….”

He wasn’t able to say anything more because Robin was in his lap, kissing him. 


End file.
